The PM's Great Sacrifice

Today, the headline of the Star screams the great sacrifice of the Prime Minister.
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http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/7/23/nation/9160765&sec=nation


Saturday July 23, 2011

PM cuts short holiday
 
By ZUHRIN AZAM AHMAD
zuhrinazam@thestar.com.my


SEPANG: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said he decided to cancel his holiday abroad to concentrate on his meet-the-people sessions with Malaysians.
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Wah, I am impressed, sacrificing his tax payers’ funded overseas holiday but what Nanyang reported him saying made interesting reading.

http://www.nanyang.com.my/node/370705?tid=460

没策划长期经济方针 人民不会相信反对党
“The Rakyat won’t trust the Opposition as they do not have no long term economic strategy”

2011-07-23 18:49
(加央23日讯)首相拿督斯里纳吉说,反对党没有策划长期的经济方针,一味说在执政时取消全部补贴,人民不会如此愚笨相信他们的说话。

Kangar 23rd. Prime Minister Najib said that the opposition has no long term economic strategy and only talk about cancelling all subsidies the moment they come into power and the people won’t be stupid enough to be fooled.

他今日访问玻璃市州与民集会上致词时,这么说。他说,很多人没意识到政府常年为人民提供的补贴,无论是食油、白糖及面粉价都比泰国便宜。

In today’s meet the people session, he mentioned that many people do not realise that the government provide significant annual subsidies as cooking oil, sugar and flour are cheaper here than in Thailand.
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Let's examine his words as a tax payer and evaluate both Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional's economic performance then.

Does Pakatan Rakyat have any viable alternative economic strategy?

If Najib says the opposition has no proper economic plans, he probably did not read DAP’s alternative budget 2010 which among many things, mentioned about empowering state government’s financial autonomy, establishing public contract commissions to review unfavourable public contracts, revamping budget allocations to achieve surpluses.

He can get a write up on that in my previous posts. ( a summary which I have to break up to 4 chapters, boring reading really)

http://wangsamajuformalaysia.blogspot.com/2010/03/tafsrian-belanjawan-2010-daripada-dap.html

In fact the pending privatization of PLUS was actually first mooted by DAP’s Tony Pua in the above mentioned budget.

Just give credit where it's due lah.

Pakatan Rakyat also distribute money like BN but the glaring difference is that Pakatan's Penang administration gave RM100 to senior citizens from after nursing state deficits to surpluses, while BN which controls almost all the country's revenue such as income, service, sales taxes as well as custom and stamp duties, do dole out pittance here and there once in a while with national debts kept ballooning in the back ground.

Results of BN’s own economic strategies
But what about the results of BN's long term economic strategies? We have more than 2 decades of successive budget deficits (which means the BN administration keep spending more than more the nation earn i.e. there is wastage, leakages and no setting aside money for a rainy day)
Year on year, BN administration also asked for additional funds after the annual budget is approved. In 2010, the original budget was RM108.7 billion, but subsequently BN administration showed tremendous lack of financial discipline by raising First and Second Supplementary Supply Bills amounting to RM9.2 billion and RM13.2 billion respectively…overrun of RM22.4 billion or more than 20%!
To make you cringe more, since 2001, after proposing deficit budgets, BN administration keep raising supplementary supply bills like RM27.3 billion, RM25.2 billion and RM17.6 billion for 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively.
Sounds like a spoilt brat who keep going back to ask for more pocket money.
What about having a good plan and sticking on to it? Even Najib’s own flagship crafted elegantly by renowned personalities,  the much touted Economic Transformation Plan, has been torpedoed by Perkasa, a pressure group not well known for great intellect but more famous for calling out loud and follow through by a stroll in the park in the recent yellow event.
As a result of various inhibiting polices, we are no longer the primary investment destination. According to UNCTAD World Investment Report 2010, foreign direct investment gathered by Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia exceeded that of Malaysia’s in 2009.
Malaysians have to pay more for a car as there is no adequate public transport system hence we have to spend much more than other citizens on transportation, to support the miserable failure that is called the national car project.
The fundamental  weak link in BN’s economic management structure
A severe weakness in BN’s economic and financial structure is no segregation of duties between the CEO and CFO. A sound corporation would have a CFO to help provide check and balance against the CEO. Tunku Abdul Rahman used to lament that Tan Siew Sin kept the finances tight and sensible.
The Prime Minister cum Finance Minister portfolio, started by Mahathir, is a glaring political decision, concentrating political power and financial clout into a single person at the expense of rakyat. Which other country have such a set up?
I am also very concerned with the finance minister’s financial orientation and sense of direction. I grow very concern if I have a finance minister that goes around distributing money on ad hoc basis. Remember the legendary “You Help Me, I Help You” rallying call?
In the above report, he mentioned that “government provide subsidy to the rakyat”. As far as I understand it, subsidies are derived from taxes paid by the rakyat themselves. Occupiers of Putrajaya are office bearers in charge of administering the funds collected from the rakyat and re-distribute the tax money in a responsible, prudent and beneficial manner. 
"The government" do not go out, earn money and feed the rakyat. That is not the case and they should not expect the rakyat to be grateful. That's feudal thinking and distorted beggar mentality.
If there is any subsidy, it's more logical to think that the rakyat is subsidizing that RM16,000 a day rental.
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PM's residence: '3 days rental could buy 1 low-cost house'
An opposition lawmaker has questioned the need for the government to pay a whopping RM6 million a year for the rental and maintenance of the prime minister's official residence in Putrajaya.
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When it was he anounced that the national debt went down as of 30 June 2010, there is no mentioned of the increase in Hutang Dalam Negeri Persekutuan has more than outstrip the decrease in borrowings from foreigners.


And about 70% of this Hutang Dalam Negeri Kerajaan Persekutuan is funded by you and me via EPF, those amanah wawasan and insurance funds.


And there is no disclose of the very significant amount of bonds issued under Khazanah, Petronas and other agencies directly controlled by the BN administration.

Well, that pretty much sum up some of the relevant points for tax payers' consideration in forming up their assessment, I suppose.

5 comments:

  1. How true, but we have donkeys running the country.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The disease of Racism,Corruption & Injustice as in the dark days of MahaTHIEF has spread to all the organs of the nation.
    Thank God we have Pakatan Rakyat and hopefully one day soon we will see a New Malaysia free and just to take its place as respected Nation on the world stage.
    When Crooks in armani suits steal country wealth and Murderers & Rapists are set free,we have a HUGE morale problem in our society-where Might is right....SAY NO to such Injustice ....hidup BERSIH !
    Hidup REFORMASI !

    ReplyDelete
  3. a nation of thieves , liars n plunderers, see facts- 100 billion went missing from 1981 to 2003 as stated in Barry Wain book- malaysian maverick. 50 billion worth of shares meant for poor bumiputras were hijack by CRONIES, 2 jet engines missing, Billion dollar PKFZ scandal , sand stealing in johor as stated in star> LRT lost 10 million due to cable theft. millons of illegals on our shores . what sheer incompetence n corrupt administration, do malaysians still trust our government? Can BN deliver or keep on plundering the coffers? you decide - malaysians

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pirates of malaysia.
    Nation controlled by bunch of pirates.
    Pirates by history of generation.

    ReplyDelete
  5. We want PR to make us a promise.

    once they win the elections, all these plunderers of the country will be maed to face the law of the country.

    no compromises.

    ReplyDelete